Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
Last night was the bore fest of a fight between Jake Paul and Iron Mike Tyson. I’m not a boxing fan, and I don’t regularly check out any events, but I couldn’t help but to see just how much of this felt like professional wrestling. The pomp and circumstance, the melodrama, and even the dusty finishes all wrapped up in a package of gimmicks that made me feel like it’s just a hair away from being as legitimate as Friday Night SmackDown.
But since wrestling doesn’t know when to let something just die, and will continue to dig its holes deeper, let’s apply that to this as well. What’s the next logical step we’d see if this were WWE? Well, surely, we’d get a tag team match between Jake Paul teaming with his brother, Logan Paul, against Mike Tyson and a WWE Superstar who would help even the odds.
My question for you today is “Who would you fantasy book to be Mike Tyson’s partner in this theoretical scenario?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
The way I see it, the Paul brothers have to be the heels and are in a position where they need to run with the age factor. Tyson is 31 years older than Jake, who is only two years younger than Logan. The easiest setup is to go with another veteran who can team with Tyson to make it the old-timers against the younger, brash, cocky, arrogant douchebags.
Tyson has his fair share of people he’s interacted with before, but most of them are retired in a way that I would never imagine them coming back for this. Even in a fantasy booking scenario, I like to try to keep the “pure fantasy” element of it down as much as I can.
However, it’s clear to me that the go-to name, if you could pull the right strings and try to get the best buy rate, would be Stone Cold Steve Austin.
As crazy as it sounds, that’s not even the craziest sounding option, either. It’s more likely that would happen than Shawn Michaels, even though I’m confident HBK would put on a much better match. Side note, if we could have gotten prime Michaels against prime (no pun intended) Logan Paul in the ring, that would have likely been an all-time great contest. Those two would have killed it together.
Austin would certainly be a possibility, though. It seemed like he was officially 100% done and never returning for so many years, only for him to step back in the ring against Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38. That just goes to show “never say never” does still sometimes apply, even when the chances are slim to none.
You can’t get a more high-profile match than that, but if that was off the table, I’d probably go to John Cena or The Rock next for pure star power. The more mainstream and high-profile, the better the buy rate. It’s just a guarantee that would get more attention than going with the best in-ring current talent like teaming Tyson with Seth Rollins or Johnny Gargano. As great as they are, the casual audience just wouldn’t be as interested.
I couldn’t see Cody Rhodes filling in that spot, nor Roman Reigns. If I had to pick someone who is on the more active roster, I’d probably lean more toward CM Punk and try to tell the story that he does have some MMA experience, even if it’s in a losing capacity. That could even be something the Paul brothers would mention in their promos, comparing his losing career to their success.
If he wasn’t currently embroiled in the lawsuit scandal, Brock Lesnar would be a fantastic option for this, given his fighting background, status as the top of the world for a bit, and how I think he and Logan Paul could have a great match together. I’d rank him even above Punk, if given the choice.
That’s what it boils down to in my mind: Austin if possible, Cena or Rock if not, then Lesnar, then Punk. After that, it starts to come across even more like a stretch than it already is, which is saying a lot.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
